Books by Polly Horvath

The Trolls & Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath (Author of The Vacation)

The Trolls is about 3 children being left with their Aunt Sally when the babysitter their parents arranged to take care of them while they go to paris for a week cancels. Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee have never met their Aunt Sally, travels from Canada to their Ohio home to take care of them. Aunt Sally is full of interesting stories about her and their father growing up on Vancouver Island, including the story of the trolls.

The book jacket touts the troll story as a story that "changed Aunt Sally's family forever," and will "affect the lives of the three present-day listeners in a different, but no less significant, way."

Yeah, I don't know. While this book is full of the quirky characters that I enjoy in Polly Horvath's books, it just doesn't fall together for me. Does that make sense? I don't really know how to explain it. Thumbs SIDEWAYS.

Everything on a Waffle was much more entertaining. The story of Primrose Squarp (I don't know whats up with the name, but poor tormented kid) whose believes her parents didn't die at sea, contrary to what everyone else believes- her babysitter, the school guidance counselor, the kids in her class, and everyone else in town. When the town council determines they can no longer pay Miss Perfidy, the babysitter, her hourly wage, they try to locate a family member. Uncle Jack is found, and he reluctantly comes to Coal Harbour to be her guardian. Primrose finds a true friend and an escape at a local restaurant, The Girl on the Red Swing, where everything is served with a waffle. The school guidance counselor, Miss Honeycut, takes a liking to Uncle Jack and thinks it is unfortuante this handsome bachelor is forced into parenthood, and seems bent on finding a reason to get rid of Primrose. Unfortunately for Primrose, several accidents involving lost digits find her cast into foster care. Through it all Primrose is certain her parents are alive, but does anyone else believe her?

Thumbs UP- lovely, quirky characters, unexpected happenings, and a happy ending.

A problem with reading a book series is . . .

When your library system doesn't have books 6 or 7 or 8, especially if book 5 ends in the middle of a crisis situation. I've been reading the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan and none of the Salt Lake County Libraries, all 18 of them, have books 6, 7, or 8. What a pain. What to do?? We are in the middle of a CRISIS after all.

The Vacation by Polly Horvath

When we first started listening to this in the car I almost turned it off because it starts with Henry's mom wanting to become a Mormon so she go on a mission to Africa, mostly so she can have a free trip to Africa to help people, and I thought "What kind of a book have I picked?" But then I decided we could see where the story was going. The church tells her that's not how things work, so she and her husband go to Africa with another charitable group to build houses, even though she plans on telling everyone she is a Mormon missionary anyways. Henry is left in the care of his Aunt Magnolia and Pigg. Yes, her name is Pigg, and the book gives an explanation of why, but I don't remember the details, and it isn't as distracting as I first thought it would be. Henry has a couple months of school left, so Aunt Mag and Aunt Pigg, who have their own interior design company, decide to remodel the house while Henry's parents are away. Henry's parents occasionally check it to let him know where they are and what they are doing. After tiring of building houses, they go to another country in Africa to visit an animal refuge and help study the monkeys.

Back in the U.S., Mag becomes incredibly sick, but she doesn't go see a doctor until the house is finished. They find out she has a weird disorder, but isn't going to die, but this is when she decides she wants to take a vacation. They pull Henry out of school, load up the car, and take off. They start with wanting to go to the beach, so they head for Virginia. While on their way Henry's dad calls and informs him his mom is missing. She followed a student researcher out into the jungle, and neither of them have returned. So the dad is stuck waiting at camp for the mom to eventually come back. (At first I thought she left the Dad to run off with the researcher, but that's too PG-13 for this G book- she really is just lost in the jungle.)

When they make it to the beach, it just isn't as nice or exciting as they thought it would be so they head out again, and that's pretty much the basics of the book. Then they go to the Shenandoah Valley, and on the way Henry gets to visit his Grandpa for the first time in his life because he is estranged from Henry's mom. Around this time Henry's mom turns up in Africa, but his Dad has malaria so he can't travel yet.

When they go to Florida to visit the Everglades Henry gets lost by floating off on his raft and when he finds someone he thinks can help him, it turns out to be an autistic boy who has wandered away from home. They float through the Everglades to the ocean where they are picked up by a boat. Henry is happily returned to his aunts, and content to disappear from public view, but they aren't headed home. When Henry's parents find out he's missing they fly back to America, but he's been found by this time and driving through Oklahoma.

I really enjoyed listening to this book-- the characters were awesome-- weird and quirky and unexpected. Two forty year old single aunts trekking across America with their nephew? It was so much fun. But the ending was disappointing, and I'm going to discuss it so if you don't want it ruined for you stop reading now.

When Henry's parents start traveling with them the mood of the vacation completely changes-- henry's dad is angry with his mom because she disappeared and he caught malaria, and he's still sick. Henry's mom therefore gets upset with his dad, and they stay in separate motel rooms when they stop for the night. They've lost Pigg (I won't ruin that storyline for any potential readers) so Mag isn't her usual self either, and all this tension is driving poor Henry crazy. At this point the book spends a lot of time on the relationship of the mom and dad, which I think is distracting from the "vacation." The book ends with the family impulsively deciding to play in an all day softball tournament in one of the little towns they've stopped at and seemingly reconciling the relationship tensions. The End. I was disappointed. The vacation wasn't over, the family still needed to travel home. And there was so much plot on remodeling the house, and the parents not knowing about it, and how would they react, and to not take the reader home with them to see how surprised/upset/whatever reaction they have about their new house was annoying.

But even with the disappointing ending, I still really enjoyed the characters, so it gets a Thumbs UP

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

I first heard of this book through the Emmy nominations the BBC TV series received. I watched the BBC series and really enjoyed it, and so thought to read the book, only to find out the storyline for the tv series was the combination of 3 books by Elizabeth Gaskell, and also the screenwriters invention. I don't remember the other 2 books, in case you were wondering, but will post them when I find out. Having read Cranford I believe the screenwriters did an excellent job creating their story, and I highly recommend the series. But be prepared that the book does differ from the TV series, sometimes significantly (book kills off a character, TV series does not, and obviously TV series includes characters/storylines from other books as well).

The book was also excellent, though it seemed slow at times, and as always plot developments that differed from the movie were always surprising. There were no suspenseful moments where I just couldn't put the book down, and I read it over a few weeks time which is a really long time for me to read a book. Cranford is told through a young female visitor to the village of Cranford who is not interested in being married off by her step-mother at home. She stays with various older, single or widowed women of the community, focusing mostly on Miss Matty Jenkins. Miss Matty Jenkins is single and suddenly thrust forward when her sister, Miss Deborah, suddenly dies. Miss Deborah had very strict control of their quiet home life and following her death, Miss Matty is forced to make decisions for herself.

Miss Matty faces such dilemmas as which fabric to purchase for her new dress, whether her hired girl can have a beau, whether she should agree to be courted by a lover she refused to marry forty years before due to her father and sister's disapproval, what to do when the bank all her money is invested in fails, and, significantly, how to treat the people around her, both old and new acquaintances.

The Cranford village has such eccentric characters as the gossiping Miss Pole, the wealthy widow Miss Jamieson, Captain Brown-- a man, with all that that entails against him, and so on. The story showed a very charming picture of the quiet village life.

Thumbs UP.

Evelina by Frances Burney

Evelina is a young woman who has been sheltered from society and societies gathering places by her guardian, Reverend Villars. She comes of a troubled background-- her grandfather was well-known to Reverend Villars, but acted against the advice of this good friend in marrying a tavern girl. The grandfather asks the Reverend to raise Evelina's mother, which he does until he is requested to send her to the grandmother in France. In France, the mother finds herself being pushed into an unpromising marriage, and so chooses to run off and marry another, Sir John Belmont. Once Sir John discovers there is no money, he abandons Evelina's mother, who is pregnant. Evelina's mother dies not long after childbirth, asking the Reverend Villars to raise Evelina.

As a result, Evelina leads a sheltered country life and when she travels to London with some close friends she finds herself stumbling through the new experiences before her, sometimes making great social mistakes. While in London she happens to meet her infamous Grandmother, Madam Duval, who is ill-bred, unmannerly, and any other term you can think of to describe a horrible relation. Seriously, if you thought the relatives in Jane Austen's books are bad, the relatives in this book are far worse. Its hard for me to keep reading as Evelina has to witness and be a part of the blunders of her grandmother, her newly discovered cousins, the husband of her friend, all of which is very cringe-worthy. And unlike, for example, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Evelina has no spunk or gumption to stand up for herself or speak out against or even think out against how her relations behave. She just lets herself be carried away by their behavior and choices, and so ends up in a number of uncomfortable situations (lying about being engaged to dance with a gentleman to avoid dancing with an unwanted partner, alone in a carriage with an unwanted suitor, nearly assaulted by a group of men, walking with prostitutes, etc.).

There are attempts made to have Evelina recognized by her father, which initially fails, but the reason is really one of the great twists of this novel, as is Evelina discovering she has a brother, falling in love with Lord Osbourne, etc.

Overall, I found it a charming story told through the letters Evelina writes to Reverend Villars, which is somewhat odd in that she discloses nothing, but lays it all out. It covers her entrance into society, trying to manage unwanted relations, and her efforts to be recognized by her biological father. I have actually read this before, and the really memorable parts are the unwanted relations.

Thumbs UP.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

We (me, Austin, Nyah) really enjoyed reading this book, and have recently been reading our favorite chapters. This book is the story of Edward, a 3 foot tall porcelain rabbit, who is self-centered and has never bothered to learn about real love. He is loved by a girl, Abilene, who unfortunately loses him while traveling by ship to England. Two boys snatch him up and begin tossing him back and forth between them, when he is suddenly lost over the side of the ship. He then begins his miraculous journey by sinking to the bottom of the sea, where he stays many months, before being rescued by a fisherman's net, and taken home by the old fisherman as a gift for his wife, where Edward is christened Susanna and dressed accordingly. The fisherman and his wife love and care for Edward, but soon their daughter arrives after hearing rumors of her parents treating a doll like a child. She tosses him into the garbage, and he ends up in the dump where he remains buried by trash until he is rescued by a dog. Then begins Edwards journey with a hobo and his dog, who again treat him as part of the family. After several years Edward is tragically separated from his companions, and finds himself picked up by an old woman who gives him the job of scarecrow for her garden. He is rescued by a boy as a gift for his sick and dying little sister. When the sister does die, the boy takes Edward and uses him as a puppet to dance to his harmonica music to support himself. Once the boy earns money he goes to a diner for lunch, but finds he doesn't have enough to pay the tab. The cook reacts by smashing Edward's head onto the counter. Through all of his journeys Edward has learned about loving and caring for others, but when he awakes and discovers the boy has given him up to a doll repairman in exchange for fixing Edward, Edward decides he will not love again and hardens his heart. But what does the future hold for Edward as he sits on the store shelves day after day watching customers come and go?

I admit I cried at the end of the book. It was a wonderful ending.

Thumbs UP.

Listening is an Act of Love

Listening is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project, edited and with an introduction by Dave Isay

From the Introduction:
"StoryCorps is built on a few basic ideas: That our stories--the stories of everyday people--are as interesting and important as the celebrity stories we're bombarded with by the media every minute of the day. That if we take the time to listen, we'll find wisdom, wonder, and poetry in the lives and stories of the people all around us. That we all want to know our lives have mattered and we won't ever be forgotten. That listening is an act of love."

StoryCorps is an organization that sets up recording booths at different places around the country, you make an appointment, you bring your dad, friend, neighbor or whoever. A trained facilitator meets you, takes you into the booth, and shuts the door. You sit at a table across from one another, each with a microphone in front of you, the facilitator pushes Record, and you start asking questions.

Which is how this wonderful collection of stories/interviews came to be. The stories of everyday Americans, some on their good days, others on not so good days, still others on the worse days of their lives. I found this collection very powerful, and I'll share a few stories that really have had a strong impact on me.

As a mother, the story of the father telling about how his son was getting ready to die, was terrifying. The son isn't sick with anything, doesn't have a life threatening illness, nothing, but the father tells of how this boy sensed what the future held, and made his last months meaningful. He had a party with friends, bought his mother's day presents, picked out father's day presents, made it all around the bases at his little league game, and then collapsed in the dugout. I want to bawl thinking about it, and even though it is terrifying in the sense of being worried about my own kids, it gives such power to LIFE, and living it TODAY. Go tell someone you love them and give them hugs and kisses, I'm going to.

Okay, I'm back. Another story is a conversation between two inmates in prison, who are both likely to be there a long time, and they are talking about making choices and consequences to choices, and there they are living the consequences of their choices, and I just thought how this could impact people, children, young people, in general, if they really took the time to think about it.

The chapter with stories from people who were impacted by the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina were heartbreaking. Both of those incidents have had such a profound effect on my own vision of the world around me, but to hear directly from people who were directly impacted was amazing, and saddening, and a whole range of emotions.

I highl recommend this book.
Thumbs UP.